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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Vegetable Lasagne.

What do you cook on a day you are thoroughly disappointed with the way life is going and are in absolute no mood to cook in the kitchen and yet you have a hungry family waiting for dinner!!! Cook LASAGNE!!!!!!!!!! Yup, just because I was disappointed, didn't mean that the family would compromise on dinner. I have never eaten lasagne before, so i do not know how is it supposed to taste!! Nevertheless, the family did relish what I made and for once the kids devoured their dinner in a jiffy!!! The recipe is from the GOOD HOUSEKEEPING magazine. The only change I made was to replace minced meat with broccoli ...

Ingredients :
For the bolognese sauce :

1 tbsp olice oil

1 large onion finely chopped

3 medium carrots finely chopped

1 celery stick finely chopped

1 garlic clove crushed

200 gms broccoli chopped

500 gms button mushrooms, chopped

1 and quarter vegetable stock(use stock cubes)

5-6 tomatoes chopped

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped

For the bechamel sauce :

2 and a half cups milk

1/2 small onion

6 peppercorns

1 bay leaf

2 and a half tbsp butter

3 tbsp maida

pinch of grated nutmeg

Lasagne sheets

Grated Parmesan cheese( as much as you want)

Method :

Make the bolognese sauce : Heat the olive oil in a large pan, add chopped onion, carrot, broccoli, celery and garlic and cook for 8 minutes. Add the mushrooms and fry for 1 minute.

Stir in stock, tomatoes, puree and oregano. Season with salt and fresh black pepper. Bring to boil, cover and turn the heat down low and simmer gently till veggies are tender and sauce is well reduced. Check seasoning and stir in parsley.

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Make the bechamel sauce : Pour the milk into a small pan and add the onion, pepper and bay leaf. Bring almost to boil, then remove from heat and infuse for 10 minutes. Strain, reserving the infused milk and discarding the onion, pepper and leaf.

4. Melt butter in a pan; add maida carefully over low heat, bit by bit, stirring to avoid lumps. Cook stirringfor 2 minutes until the mix is bubbling but not coloured. Remove from heat. Gradually pour in the reserved milk, stirring constantly. Return to heat and cook, stirring until sauce is thickened and smooth. Stir in the nutmeg.

5. Spoon a third of the bolognese sauce into the base of a greased baking dish. Cover with lasagne sheets, then a layer of bechamel sauce. repeat the layers, finishing with a layer of bechamel sauce to cover the top completely. Grate the Parmesan cheese over.

6.Bake for about 30 minutes until golden and bubbling. Keep aside for a few minutes to allow it to cool before you portion it. Serve with a salad of mixed leaves and finely sliced spring onion, if you like.